About Me

I am an old-fashioned American citizen who believes in our traditional values of freedom, truth, and justice. When I see our laws and government subverted and twisted into service of the undemocratic, powerful, corporate oligarchy, I must react with a patriotic defense of our values. I strongly oppose the ongoing destruction of what is left of American democracy and shall give voice to our common cause of freedom.
I invite you to share my thoughts. I also welcome your comments, be they contradictory, corrective, or complimentary. Only one comment and response will be allowed for anonymous trolls. Repeated, unidentified, and off-topic trolling will be deleted as spam.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

The Cult of Conservatism: Part Three

The Cult of Conservatism: An Anthropological Field Study

Part Three: Where the Cult Attacks Liberal “Fascism” And Admits It Is Against Democracy.

We enter our last chapter in this Anthropological Field Study with the conservative judicial ruling that cements the power of free speech, for all practical purposes, exclusively into the cold hard cash of corporatism. The “For Sale” sign has now been hung over every election in the US.

---DD:I think it was Mark Twain who first said we have the “best Congress money can buy”. Back in his day the Supreme Court case of Santa Clara County vs. The Union Pacific Railroad in 1886 was used to grant corporate personhood. Although this personhood was not specifically worded in the decision. It was added by a clerk. J. C. Bancroft Davis wrote that the Chief Justice had said all the Justices had agreed that corporations are persons. Chief Justice Waite specifically disavowed this later in writing. Davis happened to be a former president of a small railroad, and was the man to endow corporations with all the rights of living person.

Thus a corporation is entitled to all the rights of a human being, and none of the accountability. You can’t put a corporation in prison, now can you? And with the army of lawyers they can afford, it’s not easy to lock up a crooked CEO.

We remember The Supreme Court case Buckley v. Valeo in 1976 blessing the pouring of private corporate money into campaigns for public office.

The corrupting influence of money has once again been sanctioned as free speech.

The Golden Rule shall prevail. Those with the gold shall rule. One thing for sure, this will show who the real “elites” are. Unfortunately those elites are indoctrinating the masses to continue hating the dreaded liberal/socialist/communist/fascist, or other scary word of the week, voices of dissent, as if there were any doubt about who really has the money to pull the strings of the puppet politicians.

Free speech has been vulgarized into Big Money’s choke hold on corporate media propaganda. The voices of the poor and working class will be smothered.

Nothing will really change. It’s been that way for a long time.*Joe:And what prevented China from buying a corp, setting up a PAC, and buying lobbyists before?

What kept China from buying Big Media and doing what they want? Face it – Big Media were the only corporations that were allowed to be critical of a sitting politician during that critical period just before an election. Everyone else was frozen out, including any little mom & pops that might have wanted to put out pamphlets.

All the fascilibs are in a dither screaming Big Oil! Big Pharma! Big This, Big That! – including the guy in the Oval Office. Trotting out all the usual boogymen to scare the children. But NONE of them ever think to bash Big Corporate Media – the one type of corporation that was EXEMPTED from taking sides. And guess which side it took in the last big election – yep, with the help of Big Corporate Media, the former jr. Sen. from IL stole the White House.

But now, Mom&Pop Pop can put out pamphlets on their soda counter within two months of a general election. And for the left that is a Bad Thing. Can’t have a real grass roots, populist movement.*DD:In case you missed it, liberals were pointing out how complicit and subservient the corporate media were in parroting Bush/Cheney’s lies, fear mongering, and sabre rattling. There was near zero journalistic fact checking. Just like Fox, they all poured the Neocons’ Saddam/bin-Laden WMD kool-ade down the Americans’ throats.

Corporate media loves sensationalism and war is sensational. Mission Accomplished.Of course now that three liberals have their own show on MSNBC, Cons think ALL media is liberal. Never mind radical right wing voices rage all over the rest of corporate radio, print, and TV. Their gullible listeners are true believers who never care to check the facts. In the Cult of conservatism, blind unquestioning belief is everything. Without that it falls like a house of cards.

Let me suggest a bit of truth here. Corporate media always suck up to power. Since money is power the media suck up mostly to corporate power.

They nit pick trivial crap to fake their way out of their shameful lack of investigative journalism.

Now you did it. You had to bring up China. Since the US government has been under the control of anti-regulation conservatism since 1980, the once greatest creditor nation has fallen into deep debt to the Chinese. Corporatism and unregulated capitalism has failed our economy and the public to the point of indebtedness to Communist China. But it’s worth it, right? The CEO’s and top suits have skimmed the cream off the top. Good conservatives ALWAYS want what’s best for their beloved uberclass.

Why do those corporatist worshipers of Mammon hate America? I bet they hate us for our freedom and once thriving middle class. Don’t worry; we can fix all this with more tax breaks for big business and our holy and wealthy elite masters. We can all help them by accepting less jobs, pay, and benefits for working class corporate employees. A proven formula for success since 1980. Why change anything now?

Oh, and the absurd part is they really do think WE are the commies for mentioning these things.

Oh look, a tea party! Go drink your corporate kool-ade and don’t forget to call Obama a fascist, or a communist, or a socialist. Chances are you don’t know the difference anyway.*Doomed:Dave Dubya,Actually the FASCIST movement is OUTRAGED.Gee imagine that….CORPORATIONS are given freedoms to use the 1st amendment.Now why would a fascist who wants to CONTROL corporations….be angry over this decision?*DD:Doomed, Thanks for proving my last statement.*Scoop:When did ‘fascist’ become a pejorative for the Left? That’s like calling Nixon a commie.*Joe:Scoop, I’ve been using it for 15 or 20 years, since I realized that the actions are somewhat fascist.

“Fascists advocate the creation of a single-party state (sounds a lot like the libs in CA), with the belief that the majority is unsuited to govern itself through democracy (who pushes the nanny state?) and by reaffirming the benefits of inequality (look at the politics of division that the left uses, and the cult of victimhood it preaches).

Fascist governments forbid and suppress openness and opposition to the fascist state and the fascist movement(if you dare to express any opinion other than that of the DNC you are mobbed, vilified, slandered, shouted down – and before you go off about the “teabaggers” [see comments about being vilified] – this has been a tactic of the left for at least 40 years here, only recently taken up by moderates and conservatives).*DD:Joe, Your contempt for democracy was quite clear when your boys were given the White House by a conservative court against the will of the voters.

You are right about one thing. Fascists do not tolerate dissent.

By your reasoning, you must agree that Bush/Cheney and their supporters were fascists when they accused us of treason for calling them liars. Remember when Ashcroft warned us, “Americans need to watch what they say.” They spied on Quakers for Pete’s sake. Every pro-peace movement was regarded as hostile to the regime and was put under surveillance.

It’s NEVER fascism when Right Wingers do it. No double standards here, right?*Joe:Dave Dubya, Damned straight I’m against democracy as you seem to mean it, and for the same reason the Founders were, and why they gave us a REPUBLIC. I am against mob rule.

Yes, Lincoln tossed tens of thousands of pro-peace activists in jail, without warrant or trial. He also intercepted mail and telegrams.

I don’t see the right or moderates, or didn’t until last year, sending in mobs to shout down speakers, throwing riots as “peaceful demonstrations” (they haven’t started doing that yet). And…hmmmm…it was a DEMOCRATICALLY CONTROLLED SENATE that passed 99-1 that POS USA PATRIOT Act that gave the executive branch power unseen since the days when Lincoln grabbed those powers for himself. And which the current guy in the Oval Office is seeking to expand. I still wonder exactly what he mean by“We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we’ve set. We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded (as the combined military forces). Was that, as J. Cary wrote in American Thinker ”Barack Obama’s recent words to promote his image as Community Organizer in Chief were not about forming a paramilitary force of volunteer brown shirts. They were about turning America into one, giant, community organizer’s sandbox at enormous cost to taxpayers.” If so, I suggest that you take a close look at how Germany was organized in the 1930s & 40s with the organization starting with the block, and several blocks in a cell, several cells in a district, and so on up, all with “People of all ages, stations, and skills (will be) asked (and expected) to serve.”*Joe:Dave Dubya, I look at three issues – 2nd amendment, abortion, and affirmative action. Gross generalization, but good indicator – liberals hate the civil rights protected by the 2nd, love abortion, love affirmative action(blacks are too dumb to compete on even terms with whites). The main stream media is very anti-civil rights, pro-abortion, pro-affirmative action.

While heaping derision on Pres. Bush. And I love your continuing to parrot the lefts myth of “Bush/Cheney’s lies.” Sorry, they may have relied on faulty data, but then, so did the UN, most of Europe, and most of the Dems in power at the time.

Fear mongering? Gee, lets see, to be a good lib, you have to be afraid of guns, goose liver, fat, trans-fat, Christians, whites, males, Big Business, smoke, cars, light bulbs, nuclear power, coal power, (and now it seems “green” power like solar, wind, and testing tidal generated power).*DD:Joe, I’m happy to see you admit gross generalization to be the base of your wild accusations. You don’t know me and you probably don’t know any liberals. You only “know” what you are told by the right wing propagandists. I can tell exactly what you think by what the radical right propaganda machine says. You have no clue to what I think other than what I tell you I think. I happen to have REAL Christian values like peace, and love of ones neighbor. I own firearms and support all the Bill of Rights, not just the Second Amendment. In case you didn’t notice, Bush/Cheney shredded the Fourth Amendment with warrantless surveillance of Americans.

And nobody loves abortion. One would be insane to think so. It is about a woman’s reproductive rights and control of her own body. They must face their conscience and Creator for the choice they make. I respect your opposition to abortion. It is a horrible thing and I would never choose it if I were a woman. But it’s not about me, and it’s not just about YOU, either. Liberals understand sex ed and contraception are needed to avoid the entire circumstances for abortion. Cons would rather dictate morality. That’s always their preferred method. Some cons even go so far as to kill those doctors and Unitarians who disagree with them.

Those lies are myths? Say it ain’t so, Joe. Bush/Cheney lies are reality, not myths. They are recorded for posterity you know. One would have to be a radical right wing authoritarian to be gullible enough to believe their lie about “faulty data”. They cherry picked exactly what they wanted to use for fear-mongering propaganda. I remember Dick saying something like, “Americans are going to get hit again if they don’t vote right”.

They pushed the lies as truth and suppressed any voice contradicting their claims. Reverence of Cheney puts you well into the far-right fringe, you know. Torture, war based on lies, and spying on dissenters are all elements of fascism embraced by both the American radical right and Hitler. But you let Rush tell you tax funded health care is fascism. You DO know how ridiculous that makes your side look, don’t you?

One more thing: There are many Christian liberals. Hard for you to comprehend isn’t it? In fact Jesus was so liberal the conservatives in power killed him. Cons do love their capital punishment. “Thou shalt not kill” applies to others, not them. Just ask Blackwater.

“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can not serve both God and Mammon.”—Matthew 6:19-21,24

Bottom line: Corporate power and their corporatist politicians are all servants of mammon.

How do you expect anyone to actually believe you embrace the teachings of Jesus, when you ALWAYS (apart from a fetus) take the side of the rich and powerful?*Joe:Dave, I grew up in a Dem household. I was a bleeding heart, straight party Dem for years. I spent 30 years in liberal, o, so tolerant, diverse, and inclusive Sonoma County, just up the street from San Francisco. I don’t listen to any right wing talk radio, but I did a heap of listening to local left wing talk shows. I base my attitudes on personal experience.

i love your knee-jerk ‘you don’t know me so you can’t know jack about me.’ Yeah, turn that right back around at your own generalizations and hate.

Yeah, the 4th. And who gave the last admin that power? why a DEMOCRATIC Senate. Yep. And while I agree that there were predations on the 4th, at least they left the rest of the BoR intact, unlike the left which is still trying to take out most of the protections in the 1s, 2nd, 4th, 5th (remember Pelosi applauding Kelo?),9th, 10th, and throw in the part of the 14th for good measure.*DD:Joe, I’m glad you have an inkling of the perils befalling our Fourth Amendment. Both parties, along with the Supreme Court, have threatened our Bill of Rights. You falsely assume I am a Democrat. I distrust all politicians. I’m the opposite of a true believer like you. I am skeptical of our corrupted system of campaign finance, the false notion of corporate personhood, and corporate media.

Cons seem to love projecting the word hate upon those who disagree with their narrow views confined to promoting the interests of the rich and powerful. Just who are you accusing me of hating? I give you honest verifiable fact based information and opinion and you think that means I hate someone. I try not to hate anybody. It is a soul killing emotion contrary to my above mentioned Christian values. I’ll tell you what I do hate. I hate being lied to. I hate seeing needless suffering, death and war because of those lies. I hate seeing our Bill of Rights destroyed. But I don’t hate you or other right wingers. I sort of pity them as I would other cultist true believers.

I’m curious what traumatic event turned you into such a radical right winger. What turned you from tolerance to intolerance? Was it 9-11? Were you attacked or mistreated by a black person? Was it hatred for Bill Clinton? I have a buddy who fell for the Right over that escapade. He thought Clinton’s affair was harmful to his daughter. Never mind Republicans (like Vitter) made it a public issue and are guilty of similar sins.

Your devotion to Dick Cheney seems to carry a lot of resentment toward the vast majority of the people of this country who do not believe him. Have you considered the possibility that your side is the hateful one?*Joe:A question for all those here who will shout “Democracy!” and imply that you truly believe one man/one vote. What do you do about the houses of Congress? The lower house has set its membership at 435 for almost 100 years now. In some states a member of the House of Reps. will represent oh, 600,000 people. Those from other states may represent 900,000 (numbers for examples, but the range is well within what is really happening). Is that fair? And the Senate – how is it “democratic” for every state, no matter the size, to have two members of the Senate?

Another question, this one for the ones wetting themselves and screaming ‘Big Business!’

How is a ruling that will now allow the Mom & Pop Pop Shoppe, Inc. (all one location) to put stacks of flyers on their counter blasting Jane Incumbent (P-Anystate) within 60 days of a general election somehow vesting Big Business with the the power to control elections?

And how is stripping Big Corporate Media of the power to be the ONLY voice that can be critical of Jane Incumbent bad?*DD:Joe , I don’t know who is shouting or implying anything about democracy, other your claim to be against democracy and equating it with “mob rule”. Hmm. You prefer a tyranny by the minority? You got it. You should be a very happy man.

This is why the US government is a right wing engine of militarism, empire, and corporate profiteering. The majority of the US population is under-represented in both the House and Senate. As we learned from the health care fiasco, a state has but two senators, while the insurance companies have at least 45. No democracy here. It’s corporatocracy, bro.

Remnants of your dreaded democracy lie in our right to vote, petition, and participate in government through ballot initiatives. But don’t worry, Big Business can easily oppose these with the influence wielded by their massive wealth through their corrupt, bought and paid for politicians. And this democracy stuff reminds me of another Bush/Cheney lie about “spreadin’ democracy” at the point of a gun.

And to your next question, just what mom and pop operation, or any other interest, has the cash to buy politicians like Big Money does? Sheeesh! Corporatism has reduced and restricted free speech to a cash commodity. Freedom of speech has gone from a right to, in effect, a privilege for the powerful wealthy elite. Like Orwell said in Animal Farm, “All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.”

So, you’re right, Joe. Nothing is fair in the American way of government. And conservatives still bitch as if liberals can do anything about anything. Liberalism has been extinct at the federal level since Reagan. Give me a break. And don’t try to tell me that welfare-cutting, government-reducing, Bill “NAFTA” Clinton was not in the pockets of Big Money. At least he did what no Republican would do, and left a balanced budget with a surplus.

Now then, where are the answers to my questions? They seem to have been conveniently ignored, as were most of the points I made. Anyone want to explain the double standards mentioned above?

And, again, how do you expect anyone to actually believe you embrace the teachings of Jesus, when you ALWAYS (apart from a fetus) take the side of the rich and powerful?*Joe:Dave Dubya, Well, in matters of what the government does I’m on the side of the Constitution. I’m sorry if you believe that is the same as being on the side of the rich and powerful.*DD:Joe, I think it’s great we are both on the side of the Constitution. I knew we had a lot in common. Does your Constitution say buying politicians is a First Amendment Right? Does your Constitution say corporations are entitled to all the rights and none of the accountability of human beings? Does your Constitution say it’s ok for telecoms to tap your phone and give your personal information to Cheney? Mine doesn’t say any of these things. I do have a corrupt government that makes these outrageous claims; mostly thanks to corporate intrusion into the Supreme Court as well as the other branches of government.*Joe:Does it protect a right to abortion? Or medical pot? Or same sex marriage?Does it support laws that trample down free exercise of religion? Does it support laws that limit the RKBA? (Right to Keep and Bear Arms) Does is say that the State can take property from an individual and give it to another because the second one will provide a better tax base?Dows it support laws that tell you with whom you may associate? Does it support having to beg a permit from the State to exercise a civil right? Does it support though crimes?*DD:My point was the Right is abusing the Bill of Rights to consolidate more privilege and power for the wealthy elite. If you remember the Bill of Rights is supposed to be about protecting the rights of individuals from abuses of government power. Government power is fast coming under control of Big Money against the rights of the individual citizens. You even gave one example about eminent domain. What was first used by government to build highways and infrastructure for the public good has been twisted into taking peoples homes for the benefit of corporate interests.

Where you trying to make a point with your list of grievances? You don’t believe people have a right to treat their own bodies as they see fit? Are you saying medical marijuana is wrong? Did God make a mistake giving that plant to us?

(Crickets.....)*********************Conclusion:

As we see our conservative friends have left the building, so to speak, I just want to mention my conviction that my words have not been in vain. Of course we don’t expect the authoritarian personalities to revise their beliefs, prejudices and indoctrination. We cannot deprogram cult members with facts, reason, or logic. What we CAN do is say, “I call you on your false beliefs and refusal of facts, and have now told you the truth.” And what we MUST do is make our stand against the madness. We are fighting for our freedom here.

Aside from that, I must confess I find a certain degree of sporting amusement in my exchanges with the cult members. I enjoy dismantling the falsehoods of the cult’s indoctrination because I also gain the benefits of better understanding and expressing the issues at hand.

In addition I want to say, ALL the commenters at Gun Totin’ Liberal are not such radical right wing authoritarian types. Scoop was one to offer a clear-headed comment. I’d like to add this comment from a post-exchange observer.

How R You:Just for the record I must say Dave Dubya has given the most facts and even pointed out Google searches. I agree with most everything he has said. I'm not an avid watcher of news, but have easily noticed FOX news is a propaganda channel, just as much as MSNBC. CNN and moreover, BBC news is the most balanced. Glenn Beck is just a tool. Conservatives hated him on CNN for going after Bush. Now he's a hero. Same thing as Lou Dobbs.

Thanks, How R You.

I’d also like to offer my sincere thanks and appreciation to our friend the Gun Toting Liberal for his kindly accommodation for our Field Study. I couldn’t have done it without him. And I’d also like to thank our conservative friends for sharing with us their beliefs, fears, resentments and misunderstandings. I do believe there are some well intentioned and decent people underneath the dark cloud of cult indoctrination. We liberals do not need to accept their thinking, but we need to accept them as our family, friends, neighbors, and fellow countrymen. We liberals need to find some compassion for everyone. If we are not the compassionate ones, who will be? This is what makes us different from the Cult of Conservatism.

Before I conclude this Anthropological Field Study, I wish to emphasize the distinction between traditional conservatism and the Cult of Conservatism. The Republican Cult of Conservatism exists only to consolidate political and economic gain for the Republican Party and its corporate donors and benefactors. These interests are not limited to Military Industrial Complex companies like weapons manufacturers, corporate mercenaries, and Halliburton/KBR. The financial, pharmaceutical, energy and insurance industries also nourish the propaganda network with their vast PR and lobbying efforts.

The Cult of Conservatism does not include the reserved old couple down the street who may not pay attention to politics and do not watch Fox. The Cult of Conservatism does not include Libertarians who opposed the Neocons’ criminal deceptions and efforts to implement their cruel and terrible doctrine of “pre-emptive war”. The Cult of Conservatism does not include the rational conservatives who oppose the insane and destructive war on drugs. The Cult of Conservatism does not include conservatives who value our Bill of Rights’ protection against illegal warrantless surveillance of citizens. The Cult of Conservatism does not include conservatives who don’t accept the absurdity of corporate personhood and their lock on “free speech money” to buy elections. I heard of one poll that said three quarters of Republicans disagree with the Supreme Court’s opening up our elections to unlimited corporate money.

There are conservatives who are very much opposed to abortion, and also very much opposed to the permanent “War on Terror” hysteria. There are conservatives outraged by Wall Street swindlers and their political enablers. Traditional conservatives and liberals can find common cause and interests; not so with the Cult of Conservatism and anyone else.

I will offer one more example to illustrate the fact that this study and its conclusions are not an attack against conservatism in general or people who consider themselves conservative.

It may be difficult to think of any group of Americans more traditionally conservative than the Amish. These folks are nothing like the war-mongering Neocons and greedy corporatists behind the Cult of Conservatism. Amish style conservatism is the kind that would make the planet a better place if more Cult members were to adopt it.

So you see, I am actually pro-conservatism here.

In conclusion we have learned the American Republican Cult of Conservatism is further inflamed with more anger, more delusional ideation, and more intolerance than ever witnessed in most of our lifetimes. Their authoritarian Republican and radical right media cult leaders have become increasingly more dishonest, divisive, and outright hateful.

Cheney is still allowed to brazenly accuse a sitting wartime president of giving “aid and comfort to the enemy". Imagine what would have happened to anyone saying that about HIM a few years ago. It was enough to get Dan Rather fired to have merely attempted telling the true story of Bush’s dereliction of duty and history of being AWOL from the National Guard. Cheney is instead rewarded with more invitations by the media to spew his evil lies.

Tom Tancredo invoked the most racist of anti-civil rights sentiment at the recent Tea Party Convention. “...We do not have civics literacy test before people can vote. People who could not even spell the word 'vote' or say it in English put a committed socialist ideologue in the White House."

Wow. That can make someone not only very angry and frightened, but to also want to bring back civics literacy tests to be given to those who would vote for a committed socialist ideologue.

What’s wrong with a little civics literacy test? For one thing, they only applied to blacks in the South. Here are a couple sample questions:

"If a person is charged with treason denies his guilt, how many persons must testify against him before he can be convicted?"

"In what year did the Congress gain the right to prohibit the migration of persons to the states?"

These are what a black American voter needed to answer to prove his “literacy” in Alabama back in 1965. Even a college degree wouldn’t qualify him.

Whatcha bet Sarah Palin could answer these questions?

Palin closed the same gathering with her usual thinly veiled hateful sneer. “How’s that hopey changey thing workin’ out for ya?”

Nothing is too outrageous for them to assert, and it is done almost completely without question on their own Fox media empire. At least Fox would make a quick mention of a Republican sex scandal now and then. However, they would sneak in a capital “D” by the Republicans’ names on the screen just to give it their best fair and balanced twist.

We are learning to our dismay the other networks within the corporate media are also not very interested in challenging the lies and disinformation. They continue to put Dick Cheney on the air as if he were a credible person, as if the war based on his lies was legitimate and not even worth a second look back. Our corporate news media has degenerated to the point where they would present an argument in this manner. Were a radical right winger to claim the sky is yellow, and the opposing person say that the sky is blue, our corporate media will shrug and say, “The truth must lie somewhere in between. Therefore the sky is quite probably green. And we’ll have to leave it at that.”

Thanks, Wolfie.

This is why it is important for us to share as much truth and information as we can with the uninformed and unwary souls targeted for assimilation by the Cult of Conservatism.

8 comments:

At times I get depressed thinking about how many of my relatives and friends are drinking the Neo-Con Kool-Aid. The best I can figure is they are being played with a mixture of religion(abortion), taxes, and guns. These are fairly intelligent people, at least as intelligent as me, yet they still willing drink the Kool-Aid.

Goldwater was a true conservative but very few of those that call themselves conservatives these day really are conservatives. If Goldwater were to see his party now he wouldn't recognize it. There were many things I could agree with Goldwater, but there is nothing the Neo-Cons do or say that I agree with. Even if they say something that I would ordinarily agree with, I don't trust them to follow through on it, at least where it applies to me and those like me!!

JR,I think you nailed it on Joe. The "I used to be one..." line is never explained; just a little ploy to make us believe they were "rational" to drink the kool-ade.

Having said that, I used to be a little militaristic/wanna/be/a/Marine pinhead. But then I was a young rebellious kid trying to be different from my jazz musician/teacher father; until my older brother went to Vietnam and I read "1984".

I learned to love jazz, too. Ever notice how few, if any, Cultists listen to jazz? I think they hate it for its freedom...or is it the racial diversity?